The present invention comprises a new and distinct cultivar of geranium, botanically known as Pelargonium zonale, and hereinafter referred to by the cultivar name ‘Fisweiss’.
‘Fisweiss’ is a product of a planned breeding program which had the objective of creating improved zonal geranium cultivars with white flower color, medium green, possibly zoned foliage, and suitable for the range of medium sized varieties.
‘Fisweiss’ originated from a hybridization made by the inventor, Angelika Utecht, in a controlled breeding program in Hillscheid, Germany, in 1995. The female parent was an unpatented hybrid plant, no. 92-2074-24, having white, single-type flowers, medium green foliage without or with very faint zonation, and about medium sized plant habit. The male parent of ‘Fisweiss’ was the patented variety ‘Fisalb’ (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 9,761), and characterized by white, somewhat zygomorphic flowers, deep green foliage with slight zonation, and relatively compact plant habit.
‘Fisweiss’ was selected as one flowering plant within the progeny of the stated cross by Angelika Utecht in 1996 in a controlled environment in Galdar, Gran Canaria, Spain.
The first act of asexual reproduction of ‘Fiseiss’ was accomplished when vegetative cuttings were taken from the initial selection in the fall of 1996 in a controlled environment in Galdar, Gran Canaria, Spain, by, or under the supervision of, Angelika Utecht.
Horticultural examination of plants grown from cuttings of the plant initiated in May of 1997, in Hillscheid, Germany, and continuing thereafter, has demonstrated that the combination of characteristics as herein disclosed for ‘Fisweiss’ are firmly fixed and are retained through successive generations of asexual reproduction.